Autumn 1995
by bumba
Summary: We all know how Taichi and Hikari met Koromon in 1995. But so did other Chosen Children. A digimon appeared to each of them years before entering the Digital World, though they forgot about it later when they grew older. Short story of each original Digidestined and their partner.
1. Chapter One: Courage

Discaimer: I do not own anything, all the characters etc. belong to their rightful owners. I make no money with my writings.

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Chapter One

**Courage**

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_September, 1995_

It was a cold autumn night in Odaiba. It was already late September, so nights tended to be chilly and frigid. This particular night was even colder than nights before. Winter was drawing closer. Sky was black but not totally dark, since it was filled with countless stars that shimmered lively.

Yagami Taichi, a 7-year-old kid with huge brown hair and big brown eyes, was sitting on the windowshill of his bedroom. Whole apartment was silent: his parents and little sister - even their cat Meeko - were fast asleep. But Taichi couldn't go to bed.

The room was stark, and empty bookshells and dressers leaning the walls of it looked enormous and spooky. The Yagami family had moved to Odaiba from Hikarigaoka only few days ago, and Taichi hadn't yet unpacked his toys and books and video games that lay in boxes all around the room. His mother was not too happy about it, but Taichi didn't mind. He was angry at his parents and couldn't care less what they thought.

When his parents had told him and his sister that they would be moving away from Hikarigaoka, he had been extremely upset. For a kid of his age, a move from one borough to another was life-changing. All his friends, like his best friend Sora from his class in Dai-san Elementary School, were there. Who was he supposed to play soccer with in Odaiba? How could he find new friends in there - and who said he even wanted to? He was perfectly happy with his life in Hikarigaoka, the neighbourhood he had born to and grown at. He was not going to collaborate with his parents in this ridiculous, stupid idea.

So he started acting like a baby. First he started crying and whining about it, then, after realising it didn't help, he stopped talking to his parents. When his mother tried to pack his toys in big cardboard boxes, he would wait until she went to toilet or feed Meeko or something, and unpacked everything - leaving it all around the room only to piss her off. But nothing he did could change his parents' mind - eventually _the day that ended his life_, as he called it with bitter in his voice, came, and he found himself in a new room inside a new apartment, in the middle of a new borough named Odaiba.

When he had demanded his parents to explain why they had to leave Hikarigaoka, they had told him there had been some kind of terrorist bombing just around the corner of their house there. They said it would be much more secure some place else, and because of Taichi's fathers job, they had decided to move to Odaiba. But Taichi knew better.

It was not a bombing that happened there that very special night. It was nothing made by terrorists, nor people in the first place. It was these creatures that called themselves digimons.

Taichi, along with his sister, had met one of them that night. He had introduced himself as Koromon. Later, he had _digivolved _into Agumon, and after that into Greymon, who had fought against another digimon which name Taichi couldn't remember. When they had disappeared into thin air, it certainly did look like the outcome of a terrorist bombing. And even if Taichi had tried to tell someone what _really_ happened, no one would have believed him.

So now he was stuck in this stupid room in this stupid building in this stupid neighbourhood. And that was why he couldn't sleep. But that was not the whole truth.

One of the reasons - the main one - why he had not wanted to leave Hikarigaoka was Koromon. Hikarigaoka was where he had met him, and somehow he believed that was the only place he would be able to come back - if he was ever going to come back. Even though they had spend only little time with each other, Taichi had felt something great and deep, something he was too young to understand or descripe. He had felt a connection between them, and friendship. He missed Koromon.

Tens of thousands of stars were shining above him in the black sky. It looked huge, infinite. He had learnt about the universe and galaxies and stuff like that at school, but he didn't quite understand it. Koromon had told him about the Digital World, the place he had come from. Taichi wondered where it was. Not on the Earth, that he knew for sure. He looked at the stars. Maybe it was somewere over there. The thought of it, the distance between them, was frightening.

"Where are you, Koromon?"

He looked at the clock on the wall. It was ten past two. _I should get to bed_, he thought and yawned. He turned to look out of the window one last time before he turned to his bed.

A little pink round something was sitting on it. Taichi blinked, surprised. "Koromon?!"

The little pink round something's face was one enormous smile as it jumped from the bed right into Taichi's arms. "Taichiiii!"

The little kid couldn't believe it. "What are you doing here, Koromon?" he asked with wonder in his voice. "I thought you went back home?"

"I did", the digimon said slowly, thinking. "But I had to come back."

"Why?"

Koromon looked confused, as if he didn't quite know himself. It sat for a while on Taichi's lap, staring to the distance, thinking. "I am not sure," he finally said, looking distracted. He turned his large round eyes to Taichi and smiled. "I sort of had the feeling you needed me."

Taichi smiled widely, too. "I did! I was so afraid, afraid I would never see you again. That maybe you went home and didn't want to come back. I was afraid, because we moved, and I thought you wouldn't find me. And I was afraid I had lost you."

Taichi's face became sad and his eyes filled with tears as he spoke. He got embarrassed and swiftly wiped the tears with the sleeve of his pajamas. Koromon looked worried.

"Don't be afraid, Taichi. I'm not leaving you for good. I'm gonna have to go back home, 'cause this place is not for me, and we won't be seeing each other for a while now-", at this, Taichi's eyes got wet and round again, "- but we will meet again, I know we will. I don't know how I know it, but I do, I have this feeling that something _big_ is gonna happen some day in the future, and we are both gonna be a part of it!" Koromon looked excited about that, but Taichi didn't seem to get any less miserable. "Don't cry, Taichi, you can't be afraid. Don't be afraid! You have to be brave, you _must_ be brave! It's really important, thought I'm not sure why. But I know you're not a coward."

At this, Taichi looked up and swallowed. No, he was not a coward!

Koromon smiled. "That's the spirit." He looked around, his smile disappearing from his face. "I have to go now, Taichi. I will be waiting for you - some day you'll come to me and we'll be together again."

"Bu- but I don't know where the Digital World is! How am I gonna find there?" Taichi asked, panicing. _Was Koromon leaving already? No!_

"Don't you worry about that, Taichi", Koromon said. "You'll find there, when you need to. Now you need to promise me that you'll be brave."

Taichi blinked his eyes to stop them getting wet again. He nodded. "I will, Koromon. I'll be brave."

The digimon smiled widely. "Great. See you soon, Taichi."

"See you," Taichi whispered. Koromon started to fade away, and suddenly there was nothing but air in front of him. Koromon was gone again.

It took a long time before Taichi fell asleep, and much longer to get over the sadness of saying goodbye. But he had promised to be brave. After weeks and months, and eventually, after years had passed, he no longer remembered the night with the little digimon - it felt like a long gone dream that was remaining blurry in the back of his mind, pushed aside so he never thought about it. But he did remember to be brave - he never really thought why, but being as brave as possible became his goal. And subconsciously he waited, because a little pink round something had told him to be brave and wait for them to see again.

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Hi everyone! This is my first fanfic ever to see the sunlight, hope you liked it. English is not my first language, so I apologize for all the mistakes in the text.

The idea just popped to my head one day and I started developing it. So, this fic is about the Digidestined, who all actually met their partners in 1995, but forgot about it later when they grew older. All they had some kind of "moment of trouble", and their partners appeared to help them out. After I got the idea, I became kind of enthusiastic about it, I just find the little Chosen Children so adorable. :D

Oh, and though Taichi's meeting with Koromon can be seen in the movie, I wanted to start this with them (I couldn't just leave them out :D) and made up a new meeting. I have a pretty clear image of the other chapters in my head and will be writing them as soon as I can.


	2. Chapter Two: Love

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, and no money is made by writing this thing.

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Chapter Two

**Love**

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_September, 1995_

The sun was shining brightly in the sky, though it didn't bring much warmth anymore. Winter was drawing closer every day. The trees had turned their leaves red, orange and yellow, and a big part of them had already got rid of them. The streets were full of different-coloured and different-shaped leaves.

A young girl was walking home from school, and stopped her walk every other minute to jump into a new heap of leaves or to splash a new puddle of water that appeared on her way. She didn't hurry too much: her parents were at work, so no one would be home waiting for her. She could take all the time she wanted to play around.

Her name was Takenouchi Sora. She was 7 years old and a little of a tomboy. She was wearing red jacket and jeans (she never wore skirts, no matter how much her mother begged), and her red hair was covered with blue hat. A wide smile filled her face as she ran from one half of the sidewalk to another.

Eventually, she got home to the apartment building they lived in. She rode the elevator to the third floor, took the key out of her pocket and opened the door to an empty apartment.

She had a fun afternoon. She made herself some snack and spent the time watching tv and playing video games. Her mother came home at 6.00 pm. She made them dinner and they ate silently.

When she had finished eating her rice, Sora looked at her mother. "Mom?"

Her mother was still eating her food. Being extremely strict about manners, she waited until her mouth was empty, and said: "Yes, Sora?"

"I went to my teacher today." Sora waited for her mother to reply somehow, but when she said nothing, she continued. "And I asked him about the soccer club of our school."

She couldn't help but notice her mother stiffen. But she didn't want to give up. "And then he told me that we have this soccer club in our school. It's basically for boys but that's just because no girl wants to join, so he said it would be fine if I joined it."

Silence fell to the table. Sora waited patiently, though she started to fear for the worst. Her mother did not look happy. She sighed and started the speech Sora had heard so many times.

"Sora, dear, I really don't think it's a good idea. Playing soccer with boys? That's ridiculous! There are hobbies for girls, too, as you know very well. You could start playing an instrument, or at least start some sport more feminine than _soccer_." She almost spit the word out in disgust. "I really don't understand why you want to play that game, when you could be spending your time more constructively. Besides, playing soccer takes a lot time. How about your schoolwork? When would you do all your homework?"

Sora didin't look at her. She had heard the speech so many times already. Why couldn't her mothet understand she _loved_ playing soccer? She enjoyed running with other kids and having fun playing. "But, mom, I-"

"No buts, Sora", her mother interrupted, her voice turning serious. "We've talked about this already."

"Yes, but-"

"What did I just say? We're done talking about this subject!"

Sora stared at her mother in disbelief. "It's my life, not yours!" she screamed and rushed out of the room. She put her shoes on, crabbed her red jacket and ran out of the apartment. When she got out of the building, she started walkin normally again and headed towards a playground nearby.

"She's so stupid!" she muttered to herself on the way. "Why don't grown-ups _ever_ understans anything?!"

She got to the playground. It was empty, all the children living in the neighborhood were at home spending time with their families. Sora sat to a swing.

"I hate her!"

"Who?"

Sora almost fell from the swing. She looked around her, alarmed. No one was there.

"Over here", said a voice filled with giggle. It came from below. Sora slowly lowered her gaze and saw an onion-like plant with blue leaves sticking out of the top of it right in front her. She blinked and wondered whether she was going crazy.

"It would be polite to say 'hello', you know," the plant said, amused.

Sora blinked again. Now she was sure the plant was talking, she had seen it's mouth - it actually had a mouth and two enormous green eyes - move. She glanced around to make sure no one was watching and said to the plant that was waiting patiently in front of her: "Um... hello."

"Wasn't so hard after all, was it?" the plant snickered. "I'm glad to see you, Sora."

Sora was so amazed by the fact she had just met a talking plant that she didn't even realize the plant knew her name. "May I ask you something?" She suddenly realized she should be polite - even if the... thing she had just met was only a plant. After all, her mother had raised her well.

"Sure", the plant replied happily.

"_What_ exactly are you?"

"Oh." The plant blinked. "I'm a digimon."

"A digi-what?" Sora had never heard about such thing before.

"It means digital monster", the plant explained. "I'm called Pyocomon."

"A monster?" Sora laughed, amused. She looked at this Pyocomon and thought to herself she - it seemed like a girl - was probably the last thing she would have considered as "monster". The digimon didn't look happy about the girl laughing at her. "Aren't monster supposed to be big and scary and powerful and stuff like that?"

"What do you mean?" Pyocomon huffef, annoyed. "I _am_ powerful!"

"No doubt," Sora smiled. "But I don't quite understand. What are digimons?"

Pyocomon seemed happier as the subject moved away from her powers. "They're... we... I don't know. Do you mean you're not a digimon?"

"No!" Sora burst into laughter. "I'm a human."

"A what?"

"It's..." Sora closed her mouth, confused. "I'm not sure either."

They were silent for a while. It was getting dark, but Sora didn't notice it.

"Sora?" Pyocomon said after a while. Sora looked at it.

"Yes?"

"Right before we met, you said you hated someone. Who were you talking about?" Pyocomon seemed worried. She looked at Sora carefully. Sora's smile disappeared.

"It's my mom." When Pyocomon's face turned confused, she continued. "She won't let me play soccer because it's dangerous and foolish and childish and boyish. Or that's what she thinks. The truth is that she doesn't know anything about it"

"Oh." Pyocomon thought about something for a moment. "What's soccer?"

"You don't know anything, do you?" Sora teased. "It's this great game with a ball you kick with your feet." She started explaining the rules and details of the game, and Pyocomon listened to her curiously.

"Sounds fun", she said when Sora finally finished. "And it sounds like you really love it."

Sora sighed. "I do. But mom doesn't get it."

"It also sounds like she loves you", Pyocomon smiled. Sora rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, right."

"She does." Pyocomon smiled. "Some day you'll see it."

"Waiting for _that_ to happen..."

Pyocomon didn't feel like arguing. She knew Sora was too young to understand it just yet. She looked at the stars that were starting to appear in the sky. "I guess you should start heading back home," it said to Sora, who jumped out of the swing.

"Oh no! Mom's gonna freak out!"

Pyocomon grinned to herself knowingly but didn't say anything about the subject. "It was nice meeting you, Sora."

"It really was!" Sora smiled widely. "Will you be here tomorrow, too?"

Pyocomon looked down. "No. I have to go home."

"Where do you live?"

"Far away", she explained. "Maybe some day you'll be able to come and see me."

"Maybe", Sora stuck her tongue out. "It would be fun to see a place where talking plants live."

Pyocomon rolled her eyes. "Plants don't talk. Don't be stupid."

Sora grinned. "I should really get going. Bye, Pyocomon!"

"Bye, Sora!"

Sora left the playground. Before turning around the corner she turned to look back and saw her new friend there, smiling happily at her. She waved and then she was gone.

Pyocomon waited for a moment, but then hurried after her. It didn't catch her up, only followed her in the shadows. When Sora reached her home building and went in, Pyocomon climbed to the tall tree next to the house and was able to see directly at Sora's apartment. She watched Sora and her mother make up, hug and chat lightly with each other before going to bed. She smiled as she turned away from the window.

_See you soon, Sora_. The next second it had disappeared and there was nothing left of the little digimon there.

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**Authors notes:** Hi again, guys! First, thanks for everyone who read the first chapter and especially for those who continued to this one. And special thanks for that one who reviewed! I'm kind of new with this writing thing, so that all means a lot to me. :)

We're having Easter holidays from school, so I had time to write this chapter already. Tomorrow I'll be back to school, so I'm probably not going to be able to update this fast for the next one.


	3. Chapter Three: Hope

**Disclaimer:** I (obviously) don't own anything.

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Chapter Three

**Hope**

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_September, 1995_

"Oh, you're such an idiot!"

"Me? _I _am an idiot? That's what you think? Well _you're_ the one who married this idiot in the first place!"

Ishida Hiroaki was staring at his wife, who stood on the other side of the living room, her face red with anger and all the yelling. Takaishi Natsuko started screaming again.

"Yeah, right. It's all _my_ fault again! You're grown-up, maybe you should start acting like one and take some responsibility of your actions instead of always making excuses and blaming other people for your own mistakes."

Hiroaki shook his head wearily. For the last couple of months all they had done was fighting. "Who's the one blaming other people at the moment? You're not perfect either."

"Nobody's perfect. Hell, I don't want you to be perfect! All I want is little help here. I work eight hours a day, after which I come home only to clean up this place, look after the kids, make them something to eat, help them with homework _and_ check them over afterwards, make dinner, do the laundry and so on, and when I'm _finally_ done with all of it, I have to start all over again because whatever I first cleaned up is already messy again! And when you come home late at night, you get some beer from the fridge, lay your ass on the couch and start watching tv without even _thinking_ of helping me out!"

She had to pause for a moment to take a deep breath. Hiroaki rolled his eyes and spoke before she started shouting again.

"Right, you think I do nothing for the family? The reason I work all day is you guys! I'm only trying to make a living so that we can live in this damn expensive apartment, so that boys could go to a good school and we could have a nice life. My payheck didn't seem to bother you when I took you out to that snobby restaurant that one time."

Natsuko gave a contemptuous laugh. "That was three years ago, and we haven't been to a single date after that. And why's that? Oh yeah, _you're always working_!"

"I told you why I work so much!"

"Well I work, too", Natsuko snapped. "I'm just saying I would like to have a little help here. Besides, you never even see the kids."

Hiroaki's eyes narrowed. She'd gone too far. "You're saying I'm a bad father? Really?" He stared at his wife. He was usually exceedingly patient and peaceful, but the words she had just said got him furious. "I'm done with all this shit."

He walked to the door, put on his shoes and jacket and opened the door.

"Where are you going?" Natsuko demanded. He didn't even look at her.

"Anywhere but here." The door slammed and he was gone.

Behind the wall, in the room next to living room, their son, Takeru was sitting on the floor leaning his back on the closed door. He was only four years old, and his bright blue eyes were filled with tears as he listened to his parents closely. He was supposed to be sleeping, but he had woken up when his parents started yelling in the next room.

"Takeru, come away from there", his big brother called from their bunk bed. Yamato was three years older than him, and he looked at his little brother worried. Takeru didn't move.

"C'moon, you don't have to listen to that." He got up, went to his little brother and put his arms around him.

"Why do they always fight?" Takeru sobbed quietly. Behind the door they could hear their mother crying. Yamato lifted his eyes up to the ceiling and sighed.

"I don't know. But it's definitely not your fault."

"Yes, it is." Takeru was crying harder. "Mommy said she's tired of us..."

"Hey", Yamato stooped down to look directly at the younger kid's eyes. "She didn't mean it that way. It is not your fault. Ok?" Takeru stared at him and blinked. "Ok?" Yamato repeated. Takeru nodded. "Good. Let's go to bed." He forced a smile to his face to make the smaller blonde happier. "You can have the top bunk if you want."

As the apartment had become quiet now, Yamato fell asleep fast. Takeru, however, couln't sleep. He lay on the top bunk, tears falling down his cheek.

There was a thumping noice behind the window. Takeru sat up, startled. It was dark so he couln't see anything outside the window.

"Is somebody there?" he whispered. No one answered. After a while another silent thump was heard. Takeru peeked down to the bottom bed and saw his brother fast asleep. Trying to be as quiet as possible, he climbed down from the top bunk, went to the window, opened it and stuck his head out.

"Anyone out here?"

"I am, Takeru", a grumpy voice peeped from the darkness.

"How do you know my name?" Takeru asked in amazement.

"I don't know, I just do."

"Who are you?"

"Tokomon", the voice said, still annoyed. "Now, could you please let me in? I've been hanging from this windowshill for a while now."

"Oh." Takeru backed in and something jumped to the room.

"Why is it so dark in here?" Tokomon asked rather loud.

"Shhh! You're waking Yamato!"

"Who's he?" Tokomon sounded curious.

"My brother." Takeru was silent for a while. "Maybe we could go to kitchen? I quess mommy's in bed now." His voice fell sad when he remembered his parents' fight. Tokomon noticed it but didn't say anything.

They sneaked out of the room. The apartment was dark. Takeru lead the way to the kitchen and put the lights on. He turned around and saw Tokomon for the first time. He was a white round creature with four short feet and extremely cute face. He looked at Takeru happily with his large black eyes. Takeru blinked a few times.

"What are you?" he finally blurted.

"A digimon", Tokomon said. Takeru thought to himself. He had never heard about digimons. He assumed they were some kind of animals, like dogs and cats. At least he was about same size as cats and small dogs were.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you, of course!" Tokomon grinned. Takeru smiled. Tokomon's stomach growled.

"You hungry?" Tokomon nodded. Takeru took a chair and climbed to reach the fridge. He wasn't sure what digimons ate so he dug out cheese, ice cream, grapes, scraps of the sushi they had eaten earlier that night, yogurt and some juice. Tokomon looked at all the food carried in front of it on the table and licked his lips.

"It's all for me?" Without waiting for an answer he started to stuff food into his mouth. "It's so goooood!"

Takeru laughed. They seemed like old friends though they had just met each other. When Tokomon had finished eating everything he had been given (he actually ate it all. Takeru wondered how he was going to explain his mother why all the food was gone even though she had just been to grocery store) he looked at Takeru.

"That was good."

"Nice to hear that. I'm afraid we don't have anything left to eat..."

"No problem. I'm not hungry anymore." He looked around him. "Hey, Takeru. Is everyone else asleep?"

"Yep," Takeru nodded. "Yamato's there in our room and mommy's probably in her and daddy's room, and daddy..." He shut his mouth when he remembered it again.

Tokomon looked at his darkened face. "What about him?"

Takeru looked away. "He's not here."

"Why not?"

"'Cause he and mommy were having a fight and then he..." He started crying again. Big tears appeared in his eyes. "He... he..." He couldn't finish the sentence as the tears started falling down on his cheeks.

Tokomon watched him, worried. He hadn't quite thought he could upset his new friend this much with his question. "Takeru, don't..." He jumped to the other side of the table and landed on the kid's lap. Uncertain what he was supposed to do, he hugged (which wasn't that easy with his tiny feet) the boy awkwardly. Takeru opened his eyes surprised.

"T-Tokomon?" he sobbed through his tears. The digimon looked him in the eyes.

"Don't cry, Takeru. It's going to be ok."

"N-no it's not", Takeru muttered. "T-they don't lo-love each other anymo-more! T-they don't love u-us anymore! They don't love m-me any..." His voice disappeared as new breakdown emerged. This one was way worse than any of the ones before. Tokomon started panicking.

"No! Calm down, Takeru! It's... it's not that bad. They do love you, they just..." He didn't really know what to say as he wasn't familiar with the situation. "Everyone fights, you know. They'll be back to normal any moment."

"N-n-no they won't! They've been like that for weeks!"

"Oh." Tokomon looked around as if searching for something to help him out. There was nothing useful in the whole room. _Great_, he thought to himself. He decided to try it another way.

"Takeru? Have you ever had a fight with anyone?"

Takeru blinked, eyes still wet. "All the time, with Yamato. He always hides my teddy and won't tell me where it is."

Tokomon nodded. This was not the right time to ask what a teddy was. "Does that mean you hate him?"

"Of course not!" Takeru looked shocked about the plain thought of it.

"See! Fighting doesn't mean you hate someone!"

"But if they don't hate each other then why won't they stop fighting?"

_He's asking hard questions_. "I don't know. But they certainly don't hate _you_."

Takeru fell silent. He looked like he was thinking about something carefully. Tokomon wondered whether he would start crying again. Luckily, he wiped away his tears and looked up again.

"So you mean there's still hope they'll be happy again?" he asked, looking a lot better. Tokomon smiled.

"Sure! There's always hope."

Takeru smiled. "Thanks, Tokomon."

"You welcome."

They sat together silently for a while. Takeru started yawning.

"Maybe you should go to sleep", Tokomon said. Takeru nodded.

"Maybe."

They went back to boys' bedroom. Yamato was still asleep, one hand hanging from the edge of the bed. Takeru opened the window again and Tokomon jumped on the windowshill.

"Where do you live?" Takeru asked curiously.

"In the Digital World, of course."

Takeru scratched his head. "Is it in Japan?"

"I'm actually not quite sure where it is", Tokomon admitted.

"Won't you be able to visit me?" Takeru sounded sad again.

"Probably not", Tokomon sighed. "But some day you'll be able to visit me."

"In Digital World?" Takeru asked. Tokomon nodded. "Cool!"

"Now go to bed", Tokomon ordered. "And don't worry about your parents."

"I won't." Takeru sighed again. "Bye." He closed the window and waved at his new friend. Tokomon smiled behind the window.

He watched the boy climb to the top bunk. He smiled wearily. He was tired, too. He looked at Takeru one last time before disappearing into thin air.

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_And I'm here again. I'm actually supposed to be studying for tomorrow's maths test, but since I hate maths, I decided to come here and update. :D_

_I liked writing this chapter. I love Hiroaki, so I like having him in the story. Oh, and because I have no idea what was Natsuko's last name before the divorce, I decided she never took Hiroaki's but kept her maiden name._

_Thanks again for everyone who read and specially for those who follow this! You guys make me so happy. :)_


	4. Chapter Four: Sincerity

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing.

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Chapter Four

**Sincerity**

_October, 1995_

"Jou! Dinner's ready!"

"I'll be there in a minute!"

Kido Jou, a 8-year-old boy with dark blue hair, skinny body and glasses, sat in his room, doing homework. He had only maths (his favourite) to do anymore, but he decided to leave it after dinner.

His mother had made them soup. He loved his mothers food, but he was also eager to get back to his maths exercises. They had learned all new things in class that day, and he couldn't wait to get to spend the whole evening with his maths book.

"Are you in a hurry?" his mother asked in amazement as he stuffed himself with as much food as he could possibly fit in his mouth. He swallowed - harder than he had thought - and grinned.

"Not really. I just want to go finish my homework."

His mother looked at him. _Are all the kids this excited about their homework? _"It's friday, honey. You don't have to make your homework today. You can go play outside with other kids."

Jou shook his head. He didn't have any friends to go out to play with. But that didn't really bother him. "Thanks for the food, mom!"

"You welcome", his mother said as he ran away from the kitchen.

Jou went to his older brothers' room first. He needed a calculator and he knew Shuu had one somewhere. Neither of the older boys were there, they had been somewhere outside the whole afternoon. Jou sneaked in, knowing he wasn't actually supposed to go inside. But it couldn't be so bad if he went there _really_ quickly. All he needed was the calculator.

Of course, it was nowhere to be seen. He hesitated for a moment before opening the closet and the drawers of the dresser. He knew he shouldn't have, but then again, he was only going to borrow the calculator for his schoolwork. It was for greater good.

It was not inside the drawers. Jou looked up at the top shelf of the closet. He was a tall boy, but he couldn't reach it. _It must be there._

He took a chair and put it in front of the closet. He climbed on it and reached his hand - it was still a bit too high for him - when something fell down to the floor and smashed up.

He jumped and stared at the floor in terror. _No, no, no, no, nooo... _He sank to the floor and picked up the pieces. It was the trophy Shuu had won few years before in some maths competition. _What do I do _now_?_

He took the pieces and went back to his own bedroom. He hid them under his bed and sat on it, panicking. _I can't tell him I broke it, I can't! _He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't hear his mother come to the door, and jumped in alarm when she came in.

"I know you're busy with your schoolwork but could you please take the rubbish out?" she smiled, not noticing anything weird.

"Sure."

Jou walked to the yard and threw the plastic bag into the trash can. He was on his way back inside when he stumbled and fell down. _Great_, he thought to himself, lying on the ground. _Good thing no one's here to see me_.

"Did you hurt yourself?" somebody asked.

_Great. Someone's here after all_. "No, I'm fine." He lifted his eyes and saw a grey creature with two fins and something orange growing from it's forehead, _hovering_ in the air right in front of him.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed and jumped up from the ground. The creature looked at him, amused.

"Guess it's a good think I haven't evolved into anything more terrifying," he chuckled.

"Y-y-y-y-you s-s-sp-p-p-peak!" Jou screamed, his voice lifting a few octaves. The creature slapped his fins to his ears (though he didn't seem to have ones).

"Stop screaming, you're making my head ache!"

Jou couldn't believe his eyes nor his ears. What _was_ that thing? The creature tried to come a little closer, but Jou jumped farther from it, panicking again.

"Noooooooo! Go away! Don't eat me, I'm too young to die! I don't even taste good!" He started running away from the house, as the thing stood between him and the door and he didn't want to go anywhere near it.

The creature stood on the ground, shaking his head. "You have got to be kidding me," he muttered. Then he flew to Jou - he reached him quite fast since Jou was no athlete. "Stop running away from me! I'm not trying to eat you!"

"Th-then what are you here for?" Jou asked, slowly starting to calm down.

"Unfortunately, as I'm starting to think," the creature stated, "I'm here to see you."

Jou didn't look convinced. "Why?"

"You tell me."

Jou sighed. All he wanted to do was finish his homework, but he hadn't got near them as he had crashed his brother's stuff, been told to do household chores and met an odd little being that could _talk_. He shook his head and pinched himself. He didn't wake up. "_Excellent_," he mumbled displeased. He turned to the _thing_ again. "So what are you supposed to _be_?"

"My name is Pukamon, and I'm a digimon", he introduced himself happily.

"And what exactly is a digimon?"

"Duh, it's a digimon. I expect you can't explain your race any better."

"Well, actually, human beings are-"

"In fact, I don't care", Pukamon interrupted. "You have anything to eat?"

Jou blinked. Digimons seemed pretty volatile creatures. "No, I do not."

"Oh." Pukamon fell silent. Jou kicked a rock that lay next to his foot. He imagined some grasshopper chirping on the background.

"So, wanna tell me what I'm doing here or what?" Pukamon finally asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Jou huffed. "You tell me."

"I had this strange feeling I had to come because you needed my help. Or something like that", Pukamon explained, scowling. "So, your turn. What's your problem?"

"Are you always this nice to people you've just met?" Jou muttered quietly. Pukamon heard it, however.

"I guess I am", he stated happily. Jou rolled his eyes.

"So I'm supposed to have some kind of problem?" Jou glanced at the digimon teasingly. "It must be you!"

"Hey!" Pukamon's smile disappeared and it looked annoyed. Jou laughed. He thought to himself for a while.

"The only problem I can possibly think of - besides you, of course - is the fact that I broke my big brother's maths trophy", he finally said.

"I guess that's all right, as we have nothing better", Pukamon thought out loud. "What happened, then?"

"I was looking for his calculator when I accidentally smashed it to the floor. He keeps it in the closet, but it must still be really important to him, so I can't just tell him I broke it." Jou looked sad.

"At least we know why it's broken, since you must be the clumsiest person I've-"

"You're not really helping, you know that?" Jou huffed, irritated. Pukamon chuckled.

"Sorry. How bad is it, then?"

Jou shrugged. "Too bad for me to fix it, that's for sure."

"Maybe you should just tell him you broke it."

"No, I can't!" Jou gasped. Pukamon looked confused.

"Why not?"

"Because he'll kill me!"

"Oh, c'moon. It's just a silly trophy. He probably doesn't even remember he has it."

"Seriously? He talked about winning that competition for weeks!" A worried expression appeared to his face. "And all I wanted to do was to spend the evening doing my homework..."

"So you have any better ideas?" Pukamon asked. Jou looked at it, as if just remembering he was still there.

"I guess I could hide it and tell Shin broke it..." Pukamon looked confused, so he explained: "Another brother."

"You mean you're gonna _lie_?" Pukamon looked incredulous. Jou shrugged again. "That's not a good idea."

"It's the best I can come up with," Jou sighed. Pukamon rolled his eyes.

"You're such a coward." Jou opened his mind, ready to protest, but Pukamon spoke before him. "It's just a trophy! It's not a big deal. You wanna become a liar? Do you? _No_! You wanna be a reliable, trustworthy, honest, truthful, sincere person!" (He couldn't come up with any more synonyms.) "Just tell him the truth and everything will be fine and you can stop worrying about stupid things like this!"

Jou blinked. Pukamon stared at him angrily.

"Why do you care about me being reliable?" Jou asked, stunned.

"I don't wanna be a friend of a liar."

Jou stared at him, wordless. He had been spending pretty much all his life alone, without any real friends. And because Shin and Shuu were so much older than him, he couldn't really consider them as his friends, either. Even though he had always pretended he didn't care, he did. Homework was okay, but sometimes he hoped he could be outside, playing around with other kids. No one had ever said they wanted to be his friend before.

Pukamon looked at him suspiciously. "Why are you staring at me?"

"No one has ever wanted to be my friend", Jou said quietly, emotion in his voice. Pukamon grinned.

"Well, since I'm stuck with you, might as well make something useful out of it."

Jou rolled his eyes. "You never change, do you?"

"Nope."

"I guess that's all right."

They talked together for a while. Then Jou remembered he had to go finish his homework. He was sad to hear they wouldn't be able to meat for a while, but when Pukamon assured they would see each other again eventually, he smiled and hugged him for goodbyes. He went inside, and Pukamon waited until Shuu got home in the evening. He looked through the window as Jou told everything to his brother, embarrassed. Shuu only laughed and ruffled the younger boy's dark blue hair. Pukamon grinned knowingly.

After a while he was nowhere within sight anymore.

* * *

_Hello again! I have no idea why I have this sudden enthusiasm for writing. I spend almost all my free time writing this or developing my other ideas (I have quite a few already...). Maybe it's because I haven't been doing anything creative for ages, and now I need to express myself desperately. Anyhow..._

_I had a fun time writing this one. Jou's hilarious, especially combined with Pukamon/Gomamon. _

_I'm having trouble with the next chapter since I'm not exactly sure how I want it to be like. Let's see how it turns out, though. Can't believe I'm already halfway through with this story!_


	5. Chapter Five: Purity

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything...

* * *

Chapter Five

**Purity**

* * *

_October, 1995_

"See you tomorrow, Mimi!"

"Bye!"

Tachikawa Mimi waved her hand to her friends, who crossed the street and went the other way. She lived in the opposite direction, so she turned to her way and kept walking.

Mimi was a sweet 6-year-old with beautiful brown eyes and long brown hair. She was wearing a pink dress which her mother - obsessed with having her daugher dressed in pretty outfits - had chosen for her. Her mother's enthusiasm for clothes and fashion was already taking root to Mimi, who always stared at her mother's new clothes (she bought them often), her eyes wide, fascinated. Her family was wealthy, and her parents tended to spoil her, oblivious to the consequences of their actions.

Mimi walked forward happily. She had been at a nearby playground with her friends and they had had a fun time. Now it was almost dinner time, and she knew her father would be making some of her favourite foods.

Just a block away from her home she saw something colourful laying on the side of the sidewalk. She went closer to see what it was.

"Oh, it's so adorable!" she screemed with infatuation in her voice. She lifted up a doll that had two blond pigtails, long eyelashes and a light blue dress. She looked around her, wondering whose it was. Nobody seemed to care about the doll, everyone just walked past her in hurry, without paying any attention to a little girl with a toy in her hands. _Some little girl must have lost it here, Mimi though_, her face turning sad. _Poor little girl... _She decided to take the doll home with her. Maybe her dad would know what to do.

She reached her home building. They lived in the sixth floor. Quite hideous sign saying "Tachikawa" - made by Mimi at school - was hanging by the door of their apartment. Mimi rang the doorbell, and her father opened the door immediately with a spoon in his hand. Mimi smiled, knowing she would be served something delicious in just a moment.

"Hey, sweetheart," her father smiled, going back to the kitchen. Mimi followed him, carrying the doll. "How was your day?"

"It was okay," Mimi said, sitting to one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table. "I found this on my way back home." She showed the doll to her father.

"Oh, that's nice." He didn't seem too interested in the doll. In fact, was paying more attention to his cookings than to his daughter. Mimi didn't like that at all.

"Daddy? What should I do with it?"

"With what, honey?" He didn't even turn around.

Mimi scowled. "With this doll, daddy!"

"If it was laying on the ground, that means no one wants it," her father explained to her. "And_ that_ means you can keep it."

Mimi looked at the doll. It was smiling to her with it's pretty face. "But what if somebody lost it? They might miss it."

"Then their own daddy will buy them a new one," her father said. "This will take a while." He pointed to the meal he was cooking. "Why don't you go play in your room."

"Okay." Mimi took the doll and went to her very pink room. She sat to her bed and looked at the doll again. _Where do you come from?_

The doll only smiled to her. "You're stupid!" Mimi huffed to it. "I'm trying to help you get back home! You could at least help me by telling me where you live so I could take you there!"

"Who are you talking to, sweetheart?" her father called behind the door.

"No one!" Mimi shook her head. _I must be really tired from playing if I talk to toys like this... _The doll seemed to be laughing at her. "Don't you laugh at me!" she huffed.

"I'm not laughing at you!"

Mimi jumped in alarm and stared at the doll. "Y-you can speak?" she asked, amazed.

"No!" the voice laughed, amused. "It's not the doll, it's me!"

Mimi suddenly realised the voice was coming from the other side of the room. There was a green plant-like creature sitting on her desktop. Mimi's eyes widened.

"SO CUTE!" She ran to the desktop, lifted the creature up and squeezed her. The creature started to wriggle to get out of her grip.

"You're killing me!" she complained. Mimi let go of her and she fell to the floor. "Ouch!"

"Sorry," Mimi said, her cheeks turning red. "It's just that mom and daddy have never bought me a talking soft toy before."

The creature looked displeased by her statement. "I am no soft toy! I'm a digimon!"

"What's that?" Mimi asked.

"Not a soft toy, that's for sure!" she huffed. "We're living creatures."

"You mean there's more of you?" Mimi sounded excited. She started looking around the room.

"Well, not _here_," the creature said. Mimi looked disappointed. "But there are lots of other digimon in the Digital World! Some of them are cute like me, some are huge and scary. My name is Tanemon, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," Mimi smiled. "I'm Mimi."

"I know."

"Oh."

Tanemon looked at the doll that Mimi had left on her bed. "Why did you think the doll was speaking?"

Mimi looked at it, too. "Well, I didn't know there was anyone in my room. And I thought that would be cool. I've always wanted a doll that could talk."

"Why?"

"'Cause it would be like having a little sister! That would be wonderful! I could dress her and do her hair and make up."

"Can't you do that to a regular doll?" Tanemon was bemused.

"Yeah, but it gets boring eventually," Mimi explained.

"At least it doesn't scream like living babies," Tanemon stated. Mimi giggled.

"That's true." Her face turned pensive. "I wish I knew who owns it."

"It's not yours?"

Mimi shook her head. "Nope. I found it on my way back home from the playground. Daddy said that means I can keep it, but I don't think that would be fair. I mean, if I lost my stuff, I'd want it back!"

"So, you wanna return it?" Tanemon asked. Mimi nodded.

"Exactly!" She looked at the doll again. "Though it's so adorable. I would like to keep it, you know, but that wouln't be right."

Tanemon nodded. "I guess you're right. You're such a good person, Mimi!"

"Thanks, Tanemon", Mimi smiled. "If only I knew how to take it back to it's owner."

"Have you asked your parents?"

"Yeah. That was when daddy said I should keep it. But I think he doesn't understand. He thinks the parents of it's owner will buy her a new one, but what if they're poor people? What if they spent _years_ gathering enough money to get this doll to their kid? That would be sad. I know I can get one any minute and all I have to do is ask."

"Sounds like your parents are so henpecked," Tanemon said a little admiringly. Mimi grinned.

"I'm a natural talent."

Tanemon laughed. "But we're not anywhere closer to finding a solution."

"You're right." Mimi sighed. Then her face turned to smile. "I think I have an idea!" Tanemon raised an eyebrow. Mimi rushed to her closet and took out some paper and marker pens. Tanemon looked even more confused.

"You're gonna write a letter to police?"

"No! I saw this in a movie once," Mimi explained, excited. "See, when somebody's dog or cat goes missing, they put these "Lost" ads everywhere, like trees and fences and walls and so on. So, we make these ads and put a picture of the doll and my daddy's phone number in it, so if the owner sees it, they can call my daddy and come get it back!"

"Now I get it!" Tanemon said. "But I can't draw very well. How do we make the picture look like it?"

"Good luck I'm a wonderful artist, then!" Mimi boasted.

Half an hour later she finished her drawing and showed it to Tanemon, who waited eagerly to see her new friend's skills. Her excited smile disappeared, however.

"That's supposed to be your wonderful drawing?" she asked suspiciously. "It's terrible!"

Mimi looked offended. "What do you mean?" She turned the paper to get a better look. "It's amazing!"

"It looks like a crossbreed of a Mummymon and a Wizardmon! In a blue bathrobe! I'm gonna have nightmares of that sight!" Tanemon moaned. Mimi had no idea what Mummymon and Wizardmon were, but she could recognize a judgment when she heard one. "Even it's owner doesn't wanna pick it up when it looks like that, even if she recognizes it in the first place! It's supposed to look cute!"

"You draw a better one, then!"

"I told you I can't! I suggest we give up already."

"No way! I'm gonna find the owner one way or another!" Mimi looked determined. "We just have to use camera, since the world doesn't appreciate an artist when it sees one." She gave Tanemon a murderous look. Tanemon laughed.

"Oh, c'moon. It was a joke! Well, it's true, also, but you don't have to get offended like that."

"Okay, I'm not a good drawer, but you could've said it in a nicer way," Mimi murmured.

"Well, how are we gonna take the picture? You have a camera?"

"Daddy has, I'll have to ask him," Mimi thought out loud. Her eyes caught a sight of the clock on the wall. "I'll do that tomorrow, it's getting late." Then she looked to the door of her room, suddenly realising something. "Wonder when the dinner's ready. Daddy said it would be ready in just a while but it's been at least an hour since that!"

"Guess he'll call you in a minute," Tanemon said. "I've gotta get going, anyway."

"What? Already?" Mimi screamed desperately. "But we just met!"

"I know," Tanemon said sadly. "But you can come to my place some day."

"Tomorrow?" Mimi asked excitedly.

"Not that soon," Tanemon forced a laugh. "But some day."

Tears appeared to Mimi's eyes. "I don't want you to go!"

"I don't wanna go, either!" Tanemon started crying, too, when she saw tears in Mimi's eyes.

"I promise I'll come to see you whenever I can!" Mimi sobbed through her tears and squeezed Tanemon again. This time she didn't bother.

"Don't cry, Mimi," she said miserably. "You'll be alright. You're such a good person. Time will go fast, and then we'll be able to see each other again!"

There was a knock on the door. Mimi quickly wiped her tears away and turned around, hiding Tanemon behind her back as her father opened the door. "The dinner's ready, honey."

Mimi gave him a smile. "I'll be there in a second." Her father nodded and closed the door.

"I have to go," Mimi said sadly to Tanemon, who tried to smile to make her happier.

"It's okay, Mimi. It's not a goodbye."

"I know. See you!" Mimi waved at Tanemon, who waved back, and left the room. Tanemon watched her go.

"Bye-bye, Mimi!"

That night Mimi ate her dinner in a record time. But when she came back to her room, Tanemon was already gone.

* * *

_Hi again! This chapter... didn't turn out quite the way I wanted. Mimi's crest is such a pain in the ass, but since I couldn't just leave her out, I came up with this. Oh well... At least I'm done with her now and able to focus on the characters and stories I'm more interested in._

_Thanks again for everyone who reviewed for the last chapter! It's so nice to get e-mail saying someone's paying attention to my writings. :)_


	6. Chapter Six: Light

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

* * *

Chapter Six

**Light**

* * *

_October, 1995_

"Come on, Hikari, come here!"

"No!"

"Don't be a baby!"

"I don't want to come!"

"But there's nothing to be afraid of!"

"Yeah, there is! It's that giant boogeyman living under the bed!"

"There's no such thing as boogeymen!"

"But you said there were!"

"I was lying!"

Yagami Hikari, a four-year-old girl with short brown hair and pink pajamas with bunny-pattern, was standing tensely outside her and her brother's bedroom, refusing to come in. Her older brother, Taichi, stood inside, persuading her to go to bed. It was way past bedtime already, and their mother didn't like them staying up for too late. Unfortunately, Taichi had been having fun, telling her sister about boogeymen that hid under little children's beds and ate them for supper in the middle of the night when they were fast asleep. Hikari had quailed about the story so much she didn't wanna go near her bed anymore.

"No you weren't! I've heard it there before!" Hikari screamed, terrified.

Taichi sighed. "No you haven't, 'cause _boogeymen don't exist_!"

"Then why did you say they do?"

"I thought it was a good idea," Taichi grinned. Hikari's eyes filled with tears.

"You're so mean!"

Taichi quailed when he saw her sister starting to cry. "Hey, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, Hikari!" The little girl didn't hear him, and in a split second their mother was standing behind her, looking at Taichi with a wrathful look on her face.

"What did you do this time?" she snapped at Taichi, who looked embarrassed.

"I was only joking, mom, I didn't mean to upset her."

"Right. That's what you always say." She tried to calm Hikari down, but that wasn't as easy as she had expected. Finally, the little girl consented to go to bed, though their father had to make sure there was nothing under it first. When she and Taichi finally lay in the dark room, she whispered to her big brother:

"Taichi? Are you _sure_ there are no monsters?"

"Positive," her brother said sleepily. "Just try to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

But she couldn't sleep. The clock on their wall ticked noisily. Shadows seemed larger than normally, and she swore she heard something tapping their window. She gulped. "Taichi?" There was no answer. Her brother snored silently.

She gathered all her courage and bent over the edge of her bed to take a quick peek under it. There was nothing there. She sighed, relieved. Just when she was about to calm down, there was a silent creak on the door. She sat up, alarmed, and stared at the door. _Was there someone outside it?_

She got up, sneaked to the door and peeked out. Her eyes had already gotten used to darkness, so she could pretty well see the creature in front of her. It was round and yellow, and it had two cat ears and a tail with purple stripes. It was smiling at her.

"Hello, Hikari."

Though she had been scared to dead of the possibility of seeing a monster inside their apartment, she wasn't scared anymore. The creature in front of her was nothing like what she'd expected, and besides, it somehow made her feel comfortable, like they'd met before. But she was sure they hadn't. "Are you a friend of Koromon?"

The creature's eyes widened with astonishment. "You've met a digimon before?"

"Yeah," Hikari smiled. "He's name was Koromon. You know him?"

"No, I don't think I do." The creature scowled. Hikari looked back to the room behind her. Taichi was still snoring on the top bunk. She stepped out of the bedroom and closed the door quietly.

"You look a little different from him," she stated, looking at the creature in front of her. "I suppose you're not a Koromon?"

"No," the creature said. "I'm Nyaromon."

"My name's Hikari." She blinked, remembering. "But you knew that already, didn't you?"

Nyaromon nodded. "It's so nice to finally meet you. I've been waiting for this moment," she said, smiling happily.

"Really? How did you even know I existed?" Hikari asked, surprised. "I mean, _I _didn't know anything about digimons before Koromon."

Nyaromon scowled again, displeased. She didn't seem to like Hikari talking about Koromon all the time. "Why did you even meet that Koromon in the first place?" she asked without being quite able to hide her jealousy.

"He came to our apartment - not this one, the one we lived in before we moved - to see us, Taichi and me," Hikari explained, not noticing the irritation in her new friend's voice. "But I think he actually came to see Taichi. I just happened to be there, too."

That seemed to calm Nyaromon down. She looked a lot happier again. And she seemed to be starving, as her stomach (if she even had one, she seemed to consist only of one big head) growled. "Is there anything to eat?"

"Yes, in the kitchen," Hikari said and lead Nyaromon to the fridge. She opened it with trouble (she could only just reach the door handle of it), and showed her new friend the great amount of food it had to offer. Nyaromon stared at it, her eyes wide with desire.

"You can have whatever you like," Hikari explained, smiling. Nyaromon was too excited to pick anything, so Hikari took a few bowls out and carried them to the table. After ten minutes Nyaromon had eaten every piece of food the Yagamis had left from dinner that night.

"It's funny how someone your size can eat that much food," Hikari said in wonder.

"It wasn't that much, in fact," Nyaromon said in a dismissive tone. Hikari giggled.

"I guess that's true. It's actually a miracle there were any scraps in the first place. Taichi usually eats every crumb he can find."

Nyaromon looked out of the kitchen window. It was very dark outside. "Maybe you should go to sleep. I've heard young people need a lot of sleep."

Hikari hugged herself. "I can't sleep."

"Why's that?"

"'Cause it's dark."

Nyaromon looked at her, bemused. "You afraid of the dark?" Hikari nodded. "But there's nothing scary in darkness!"

"Except the monsters," Hikari whispered. Nyaromon grinned.

"You weren't afraid of me when you first saw me, were you?"

"No, but that's because you're not scary. But earlier this night Taichi told me about boogeymen and other monsters that are huge and dangerous. And I can't sleep when I think of them living under my bed."

Nyaromon wasn't quite sure how to explain the girl there was nothing to be afraid of. "I can't tell you there are no monsters, obviously." Hikari managed to give a smile, though she still looked worried. That encouraged Nyaromon. "But I _can_ tell you they're not going to get _here_."

"You did."

Nyaromon sighed. "I'm an exception. Firstly, the monsters that are big and scary, are simply too _big_ to fit under your bed. So there are none of them there, okay? Secondly, all the monsters I know of live in the Digital World."

"Where's that?"

"Umm..." Nyaromon had to think hard, but it didn't help. "I'm not sure. But it's far away, so they won't be able to find here."

Hikari still wasn't completely satisfied. "But what if they _will_?"

"They won't!" Nyaromon was starting to lose her nerves. "There are no monsters. Period."

"But it's still dark," Hikari protested.

"There's nothing about darkness itself to be scared about. It's only the things that come along with it, like monsters. And there aren't any of them, remember? So all there is is only darkness itself, and it's not scary at all."

She could see Hikari was thinking about her words. The little girl didn't exactly understand all of it, but it sounded reasonable. "So... darkness it not bad?"

"I don't know about that, but it certainly won't harm you," Nyaromon assured. "Darkness is only lack of light. Just think like that and you can bring the light into it. Then it won't be that scary."

Hikari nodded. "Bring light to darkness... that sounds nice."

Nyaromon smiled. "You see? It's already a lot brighter."

Hikari smiled, too. "Thank you, Nyaromon. You helped me a lot. I quess I'll be able to sleep now." She yawned and rubbed her eyes. She suddenly felt really tired.

"Go to bed," Nyaromon said softly. "And sleep well." She followed Hikari to the door of the kids' bedroom.

"We didn't really have time to do anything together. You wanna come and play with me tomorrow?" Hikari asked sleepily. Nyaromon looked sad.

"That won't be possible. It's going to take some time until we can see each other again."

"Oh." Hikari's sleepy smile disappeared. Then her expression lightened again. "But we will be able to see again? Eventually?"

"Yes. I'll be waiting for you," Nyaromon said. "Now go to sleep, and don't forget what I told you about the light inside of you."

"I won't," Hikari promised. "Bye-bye, Nyaromon!"

"Good night, Hikari."

The girl went to the bedroom and looked back at Nyaromon before she closed the door. And that one swift look was the last one she saw of the digimon during the following four years.

* * *

_Wow! Only two chapters to go. Can't believe it. Really._

_I left my two favourites for the last, haha. Can't wait to write them! :3_

_Again, thanks so much for everyone who has read and reviewed this! That means sooo much to me. :)_


	7. Chapter Seven: Knowledge

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this, I suppose...

* * *

Chapter Seven

**Knowledge**

* * *

_November, 1995_

Izumi Koushirou was lying in a foetal position in his bed. He was a six-year-old boy with short red hair and black eyes, that were, at the moment, filled with big tears. He was hugging himself tightly, sobbing quietly and trying to forget about what he had heard just a few minutes before. But he couldn't forget. He had been on the door of his bedroom, on his way to bathroom, when he had heard his parents talking in the living room on the other side of the door. Now he wished he hadn't stopped to listen curiously.

_"You think we should tell him?"_

_ "No, Yoshie!"_

_ "But we have to!"_

_ "There's no hurry, he's just a little kid!"_

_ "But Masami, we can't hide it from him! He'll find it out eventually and then he'll hate us for the rest of his life!"_

_ "Of course we'll tell him, someday. But it's just too early for that now. He wouldn't understand it!"_

_ "But he has a right to know he's adopted, right to know who are his real parents-"_

Koushirou squeezed his eyes closed and tightened his grip of himself. His father had been right, he didn't understand the consept of adoption, but he had been clever enough to realise his "mom" and "dad" were actually not his parents. A series of questions started to fill his mind. _Who were they? Who was _he_? Why was he with them? Where were his real parents? Why didn't he live with them? Had something happened to them? _What _had happened to them?_

He didn't know any of the answers, and that bothered him. He couldn't just get up and ask these people who he had considered his parents for the last six years, as they so much wanted to keep the fact as a secret. But he didn't want to live not knowing the truth. He was a curious child, he always wanted to know everything and he always figured out one way or another to find the truth. This one didn't seem that easy, though. He hated not being able to find the answers, not knowing... He hated not knowing who he was. It seemed like even his name, _Izumi_, was a lie.

On his desktop, next to the bed he was lying on, was his laptop. He had got it a while ago, and it had become very important to him. Though he was only six years old, he was already better with computers than his father. It was his information source and beloved friend. At least it didn't lie to him.

He got up and was on his way to it, intending to turn it on to get something to do to distract him from his miserable thoughts, but before he reached it, something banged to his window. He jumped in alarm and swung around to make sure his parents hadn't heard anything (it was way past bedtime), but there were no noices behind the door. He assumed they had gone to bed as well.

He turned around again and went to the window. Not being sure whether it was a good idea, but being too curious to let it just be, he opened the window, stuck his head out of it and looked around. When he saw the thing sitting in the flowerbed which her mother had put on the windowshill outside the window, he jumped back to the room, quailed.

The creature had a pink body with two short arms and no legs but several appendages on the underside of it's body. It was extremely cute, but the reason for Koushirou's fright was not it's face but the fact that it was certainly not a regular animal - it didn't look like any living creature. He had no idea what it was, and that was more frightening than it's existence. If someone would have told Koushirou to describe it, he would have said it looked like a pink baby ghost.

The creature jumped to Koushirou's desktop and waved his hand as a greeting. "Hello, Koushirou!"

It took a moment for the redhead to make his mouth work. "H-hi."

The creature sat on top of Koushirou's laptop (and missed the tense expression that appeared to the kid's face as he noticed it) and looked around in his small room. "This is how human beings live? How strange!"

"How is that strange?" asked Koushirou, not being able to stop the question from escaping from his lips as the familiar curiosity woke inside of him.

"You have so much strange things in this strange building in this strange place full of other strange buildings," the creature stated, apparently thinking that was a clear and exhaustive answer. Instead, Koushirou didn't seem to be satisfied.

"Then where do you live?"

"In the Digital World."

"Where is Digital World?" Koushirou asked, his curiosity rising to a whole new level. He had never heard about such world.

"It's... well... it's somewhere over there," the creature gestured vaguely to the window. Koushirou raised an eyebrow.

"You don't know, right?"

"Well... um... yeah, I don't."

Koushirou smirked. "Who are you, actually?" He thought it would be a bit too rude to ask "what are you".

"My name is Motimon," the creature introduced himself. And, as he seemed to notice the unspoken question, he added: "And I'm a digimon."

"A _what_?" Koushirou blurted before he could shut his mouth and think of a more polite way to express his wonder. Manners had been taught to him already when he was a baby and his parents were proud of him for being more well-behaved than any of his peers. For some reason, he seemed to have forgotten all of his manners that particular night.

Motimon didn't seem to mind. "We are the inhabitants of the Digital World."

"So... Digital World is a place where pink weird-looking creatures live?"

"Thanks," Motimon grinned, not offended at all. "But we're not all pink. There's a countless amount of different kinds of digimon in the Digital World. Motimons are just one type of digimon. And all of digimons are not as adorable as I am. Some are much bigger and more powerful."

"This Digital World starts to sound like an imaginary world to me," Koushirou murmured to himself. Motimon heard it.

"I'm not lying!"

"I didn't say so."

"You meant so."

"Well, I have never actually heard about that kind of place - or beings like you," Koushirou explained. "There's pretty much nothing you can prove it's existence with."

"I'm not good enough an evidence for you?" Motimon asked, half offended, half amused. Koushirou blinked.

"I forgot that."

"I'm standing right here and you simply just _forgot_ about me."

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"I know, I know... just calm down," Motimon grinned. Koushirou looked at him in puzzlement. "What?" Motimon asked.

"I'm trying to figure out why no one has ever heard about digimons before."

Motimon wriggled uncomfortably under Koushirou's inquiring stare. "Well, I didn't know about humans before I came here."

"Then how did you know my name?"

"I... I don't know," Motimon's face turned amazed. "Somehow I knew I had to come and that you were the one I came for."

Koushirou lifted an eyebrow. "Sounds a little indeterminate, don't you think?"

"I guess..."

They fell silent. Koushirou tried to decide what to ask (he had so many questions for the digimon he couldn't choose which one he was most eager to know the answer of) and Motimon surveyd his room. His black eyes caught a framed picture next to Koushirou's laptop.

"Who are these?"

Koushirou looked what the digimon was pointing at. His face darkened. "They're my mom and da- I mean, they are the people I live with."

Motimon looked bemused. "You mean they're your parents?"

"Yes. I mean no! I don't know," Koushirou sighed. Motimon looked even more confused.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"Just before you came in from my window, I heard them speaking outside my room," Koushirou said. "And they were talking about whether or not to tell me that I'm adopted."

"What does adopted mean?"

"It means they're not really my parents. Some other people are, but for one reason or another they couldn't keep me," (he couldn't say "they didn't want to keep me", though that particular thought had been in his head for the whole evening) "and so these people I considered my parents took me."

Motimon blinked. "What do you think happened to your real parents?"

"I don't know."

"How did you end up with these people?"

"I don't know."

"Why don't you ask them?"

"I don't know."

"There's a lot of 'I dont knows'," Motimon stated. Koushirou blinked and was about to open his mouth to reply, but couldn't make a sound before Motimon continued. "It bothers you not to know, right?"

"Yeah, bu-"

"And you want to know the truth, right?"

"Yes, I do-"

"Then why don't you just go and ask them?"

"Because they didn't want to tell me in the first place!" Koushirou huffed, and kept going before the digimon could start reproaching him again. "They were arguing whether or not to tell me, because they thought I'm too young and that I would be mad at them and that I wouldn't understand it! I can't just go there and tell them I was eavesdropping!"

"Are you mad at them, then?"

Koushirou fell silent. He hadn't really thought about that. He was scared, confused, disappointed - and mad, but not for his mother and father. He was mad for them not telling him but he didn't _hate_ them. After all, they were the only parents he knew of. "No," he whispered.

"Then what's the problem?" Motimon asked quietly.

"I... I want to _know_! I want to know who I am and where I come from and who my real parents are, but I don't want to ask them."

Motimon looked him with compassion. "I'm sure they'll tell you eventually. You just have to be patient."

Koushirou huffed. "That sounds boring."

"If you can't figure it out any other way, that's what you'll have to do."

Koushirou sighed. "I guess you're right."

"They love you, you know," Motimon said, his voice suddenly turning from determined to soft. "They kept you though you're not even theirs. That means a lot. You shouldn't forget about that."

Koushirou smiled. "Yeah. Thanks, Motimon."

"You're welcome."

"Now would you please get off of my computer?"

Motimon stood up quickly, a little alarmed before he noticed Koushirou was smirking. "You could've told me if that _machine's_ so dear to you," he huffed, irritated. Koushirou grinned.

"It is, so don't sit on it again."

Motimon rolled his eyes. "I should get going."

"Back to the Digital World?"

"Exactly."

"Can I come with you?" Koushirou's voice was full of eagerness.

"No." Motimon thought about something for a while. "But I think some day you can."

Koushirou raised an eyebrow. "Some day, then."

Motimon smiled. "See you then."

"Bye-bye."

The digimon jumped to the window which was still open and waved at the redhead while he closed the window. Koushirou smiled at his friend for the last time before he got back to his bed. The digimon watched him closing his eyes and falling asleep.

"Good night, Koushirou."

* * *

_Hi everyone! Thanks again for reading and/or reviewing!_

_I took me more time to finish this than when writing the previous ones. I love Koushirou and Tentomon/any variation of him, so I wanted to make sure this comes out the way I planned. I'm actually pretty pleased with it. :)  
_

_Only one to go!_


	8. Chapter Eight: Friendship

Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing.

* * *

Chapter Eight

**Friendship**

_November, 1995_

Ishida Yamato, a 7-year old blond boy with a grim look on his face, was walking home. He had his hands in his pockets and blue eyes locked on the small rock he was kicking while walking. Other kids from his school walked home in groups but he didn't care about having company. He didn't want to go play with others. He didn't want to have anything to do with them.

He reached his home building. His father was not home. It didn't surprise him, really, since his dad usually worked late. He had already gotten used to being by himself over the past few months.

He went to the kitchen and started making something to eat for himself. He was pretty good at cooking, given his age. But he didn't care about the taste of the food, as long as he had something to eat.

He had just sat to the kitchen table in order to eat the omelet he had made when the phone rang. He sighed - it was probably dad saying he would be working late again - and went to the hallway to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Yamato?"

He felt a lump in his throat. He could recognize the voice anywhere. And it hurt to hear it only through phone.

"Hi, Takeru."

He listened to his 4-year-old little brother tell about his day and how he had won some game in the kindergarten. It was always like this: Takeru did the talking while he tried to ignore the pain and make sure his little brother didn't notice anything weird. Takeru was too young to understand anything, but he was older. He understood. And it ached to know how things were never going to be the same.

Just a couple of months earlier their parents had decided to divorce. Yamato had realized something was not right way before they told him. He had woken up several nights to hear his parents screaming at each other. Takeru had heard it, too, a few times, but Yamato had managed to calm him down. But he hadn't manage to calm down himself.

And then the day came, and their family fell apart. Their mother had taken Takeru and moved to Sangenjaya. And even if it hurt Yamato to be separated from his brother, he had decided to move to Odaiba with his father. He knew Ishida Hiroaki wouldn't be able to live all by himself, and he didn't regret his choice. But it still hurt.

"Yamato?"

"Yeah?" He had a hard time recognizing his own voice. It was small and high-pitched. He cleared his throat.

"When do you come home?"

Yamato closed his eyes. They had gone through that same conversation a hundred times but Takeru didn't seem to understand. How could he explain his little brother what was going on when he was just a child himself? Why did he have to grow up so fast?

"I don't live with you and mom anymore, remember?"

There was silence. Yamato was just trying to think about a way to explain things to Takeru, when he started speaking again.

"Then when will you come and visit us?"

Yamato sighed in relief. It seemed Takeru had decided to leave the subject. "I don't know. Soon."

"You said that two weeks ago."

Yamato sighed again. "I know. I'm sorry. But I'll come there soon, I promise."

"Okay." Yamato heard someone else speaking unclearly on the backround. Then there was Takeru's voice again, full of childish hope and cheer. "Mom says she needs the phone so I have to go now."

"Oh, okay." Yamato wasn't quite sure what to say. They never met anymore, and even the phone calls were getting fewer and fewer. He didn't want Takeru to go.

"Bye-bye, Yamato! See you soon!"

"Bye, Takeru," Yamato said, his voice breaking. "I..." He heard Takeru hang up. "...miss you," he added, but no voice came out of his mouth. He let go of the phone, fell back against the wall and slid to the floor.

He had never felt so small, so helpless, so _lonely_. He put his hands around his legs and felt tears burning in his eyes. He normally hated crying, hated feeling so weak, but this time he didn't care. Tears started running down his cheeks but he didn't make a move to wipe them away.

"Is everything okay?"

He winced and finally wiped the tears with his sleeve to see around him. His eyes caught a funny-looking creature sitting on the floor in front of him. It was round and it's body was covered with orange fur. A sharp grey horn stuck from its forehead and it studied him with its big red eyes.

Yamato blinked, trying to make up whether to run away from the weird creature or laugh at it. It had to be joke. Maybe his father had sense of humor, after all, though Yamato didn't quite get it. He was just wondering where his father had found such a weird toy, when it opened its mouth again.

"I'm just a baby. I can't possibly be scary enough to make you lose your ability to speak."

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "Well, your not scary at all. And what exactly _are_ you?"

"My name is Tsunomon!" he stated. "And I'm a digimon!"

Yamato looked at it doubtfully. "And what's that supposed to be?"

"A digital monster," Tsunomon stated. "We are the inhabitants of the Digital World. Just like you humans are the inhabitants of this Earth World."

To Tsunomon's surprise and irritation, Yamato started laughing. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"How did dad come up with something that stupid?" the blond chuckled. Tsunomon's eyes narrowed.

"This is not a joke! I'm real!"

"Yeah, right."

"I am! You have to believe me!"

"Okay. Let's say I believe in digital pets-"

"Monsters!"

"Right. Let's say I buy that. Where is this Digital World, then?"

Tsunomon fell silent and Yamato was pretty sure it's face turned a little reddish. He watched triumphantly as the creture tried to think of a way to answer the question. "Okay, I don't know," he said eventually.

"Ha! Got you!"

"No! I'm still true!" Tsunomon protested. Suddenly his face lightened. "You were there that day, weren't you!"

"Where?"

"In Hikarigaoka, when Greymon and Parrotmon fought! I've heard you guys were there that night!"

Yamato had no idea who "you guys" were or what "Greymon" and "Parrotmon" were, but the words "Hikarigaoka" and "fight" caught his attention. He remembered - not clearly, but still - that one night before the divorce, when he and Takeru had stood on the balcony, watching odd creatures fighting on the street. He had almost forgot about it, but now, as Tsunomon mentioned it, he remembered.

"They were digimon too?"

Tsunomon nodded. "You believe me now?"

"Yeah."

They were silent for a while. Yamato was trying to understand this information he had just learned. Then Tsunomon looked at him, suddenly worried.

"You were crying a moment ago. Is something wrong?"

Yamato looked up, waking from his thoughts. When he realised what Tsunomon had said, his expression turned dark again. He didn't say anything.

"Yamato?"

"It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like that."

"It's none of your business!" Yamato snapped.

Tsunomon looked offended. Yamato sighed. "I'm sorry. It's just really not something I want to talk about."

Tsunomon studied him with a concerned look. "Are you sure? I'm a pretty good listener."

Yamato smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yes. I'm better off alone."

"Alone? _Alone_?!" Tsunomon blurted. "Tell me you're not being serious!" He was staring at Yamato with such incredulity he would have laughed if it was any other time.

"Yeah. I don't want anybody to get too close to me. You know, the second you start caring about someone, they are just gonna hurt you and make you feel pathetic! I've had enough of that, trust me. I don't want any more of it. It's already hurting too much."

The expression on Tsunomon's face was suddenly filled with compassion and pity. Yamato hated it. "You don't have to feel sorry for me. I can take care of myself."

"I don't doubt that," Tsunomon said quetly. "But it doesn't mean that's what you should do."

"Yes it does," Yamato declared. "I don't want to feel like this anymore! It's killing me! Do you know what it's like to lose everything that you care about? Have you ever been through that? Do you have to live every day lying to the person you care about more than anything in the whole world, just because you want to make sure they don't have to go through all the bad things you do? You don't have any idea what it's like, when... when..."

His voice broke and suddenly, to Tsunomon's dismay, he turned his face away from him, trying to prevent him from seeing the tears falling down his cheeks. He watched the boy hug his knees with the other hand and running the other one through his blond hair in frustration. The digimon didn't know what to do. Awkwardy he came closer and leaned his body to Yamato's side. The boy looked at him, surprised.

"You're right. I have no idea how you feel," the digimon whispered. "But it doesn't mean I can't be there for you when you need a friend. It doesn't mean you have to go through it alone."

Yamato stared at him, his eyes wide and wet, his mouth opening and closing again as he tried to say something. Tsunomon looked back, smiling slightly.

"You're not alone."

All of a sudden Yamato put his arms around him and picked him up. For some time - could have been two minutes, could have been an hour, they didn't know - they sat there silently, Tsunomon in Yamato's arms, while the boy cried until no tears were left to cry. And when he couldn't cry anymore, he still didn't move away. Tsunomon couldn't really do anything to calm his new friend, but it didn't matter: his sheer presence made Yamato feel better. And then, eventually, he looked down to the digimon.

"Thank you, Tsunomon."

"No problem," Tsunomon smirked.

It was quite late already. The digimon knew he couldn't stay for much longer. But he didn't want to leave Yamato, either. "I have to go." His voice was barely audible.

Yamato nodded, looking just as gloomy. "I know."

"But we'll see again, right?"

"Sure." Yamato smiled.

"Maybe next time you can come to visit me in the Digital World."

"I would like that."

There was silence again. Then Tsunomon forced himself to jump off of Yamato's lap.

"I quess it's a bye then," Yamato said, forcing a smile.

Tsunomon smiled, too. "Bye-bye, Yamato."

"Bye, buddy."

He blinked, and the next second his friend was gone.

* * *

_The end. Wow. Can't believe it. I had a great time writing this fic. Hope you guys liked it, too! :)_

_For the last time, thank you soooo much for everyone who has read/followed/favorited/reviewed this! I seriously can't thank you enough! Love you all!_


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